25 magical years at D-C
Is Fenwick on its way to a record seventh championship and fourth in a row? Is this the year Buffalo Grove finally wins it? Or, is Cinderella lurking somewhere in the field?
All those questions will be answered beginning Wednesday when the 25th Charger Classic girls basketball tournament, sponsored by the Daily Herald, commences in Carpentersville.
Buffalo Grove (12-0), the No.1 team in the Daily Herald Top 20 all season and the No. 15 team in the latest USA Today national rankings, is the favorite but Fenwick (11-2) has won the last three Charger Classic titles and the Friars are as tough as ever again.
But don't count out teams like Maine West (10-2), Resurrection (9-3), Naperville Central (10-2) or Mother McAuley (9-3), which is back in the tournament after a long absence. There's also perennial contender New Trier (9-5), and first-timer St. Charles North (7-2) to contend with, and Rockton Hononegah comes in 10-1.
"It's pretty open I think," said Maine West coach Derril Kipp, whose teams have won the title five times, the last in 1997. "It's still the best tournament in the state, no doubt. It's the only place to go."
Buffalo Grove, an Elite Eight qualifier last year after finishing third at D-C, will kick off the action at 10 a.m. Wednesday against Regina Dominican. The Bison have the most experienced team in the field but BG has never won a D-C championship.
"We've been shooting the ball real well lately," said longtime BG coach Tom Dineen, who will retire at the end of the school year. "It took us a while to get going but we're shooting it much better lately."
Dineen says this team wants more out of D-C than the Bison have gotten in the past -- like that elusive title.
"My goal always was to come out of D-C 3-1," Dineen said. "But this year is probably the best squad I've ever had coming into D-C and I think they have their sights set higher. They handle the pressure real well. This is a veteran group on and off the floor."
The Bison are led by three Division I recruits in seniors Ellen Ayoub (Loyola, 16.3 ppg) and twin sisters Maggie (13 ppg) and Allison (9.0 ppg) Mocchi, who are both headed to Northwestern.
Evanston, led by seniors Kim Davis and Darcel Retreage, takes on McAuley, in game two. McAuley was 9-3 heading into Thursday's game with Marist and new coach Karen Ade's Mighty Macs are led by 5-8 senior guard Maureen Sullivan.
Game three will pit 9-3 Resurrection against Hononegah. Resurrection is led by senior guard Deanna Ortiz, a DePaul signee.
The last game in the top bracket has Maine West facing Fremd (5-6), which is coached by former St. Edward player Dave Yates. Maine West scored an impressive win over Maine South recently and has lost only to Mother McAuley and Marian Catholic, the latter setback coming when senior standout Brittany Begrowicz (11 ppg) was out with an injury. Senior Mary Kusner (14 ppg) and sophomore Samantha Acosta (10 ppg) are the Warriors' other top players.
"We had one bad weekend but other than that we've been playing pretty well," said Kipp, now in his 27th season at Maine West. "Brittany played a full game against Maine South so now we need to get our offense going again. It'll be interesting to see how we do."
The lower bracket first round will kick off with what might be the best first-round game as Naperville Central takes on St. Charles North. The Redhawks are led by seniors Jessica Carter and Lisa Lawrence.
"If you'd told me at the beginning of the season we'd be 10-2 I would have been happy," said NC coach Andy Nussbaum. "And we can potentially get better."
St. Charles North's top players are 6-4 junior Kelsey Smith (16.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg) and the guard tandem of senior Nika Sircher (5 ppg, 3.1 steals) and junior Anna Conrad (9.4 ppg, 3 steals). Sophomore guard Kiley Hackbarth averages 6.4 points and 2.6 steals.
"It's going to be a good game," said North coach Katie Sauber. "We've never played them before so we'll see what we're in for."
That game will be followed by New Trier matching up with Johnsburg (5-4). New Trier lost starting guard Jessica Atlas to an ACL injury recently. The Trevians also have a new coach in Carrie Sowa as Teri Rodgers took a one-year leave of absence. Johnsburg's top player is senior guard Michelle McDonald.
Fenwick, with sophomore St. Edward transfer Katelyn Payne, will take on Bartlett (3-8) in the 7 p.m. game. The Friars of coach Dave Power are led by 6-1 sophomore Tricia Liston, who many feel is one of the top sophomores in the country.
Bartlett got a boost last week with the return of senior point guard Katie Koster from a knee injury. The Hawks have been led this season by freshman center Jacki Gulczynski and junior guards Becca Cronin and Alexa Tovella.
The first round will wrap up with host Dundee-Crown (7-4) taking on Prospect (9-4), which is led by senior Megan Murray (14 ppg) and sophomore Rachel Hunt (8 ppg).
D-C suffered a 34-31 loss to Prairie Ridge Wednesday night and Chargers coach Joe Komaromy is hoping his team can bounce back and reach its annual goal of going 2-2 at its own tournament.
"If we can come out 9-6 I'll be smiling," Komaromy said. "We need to get more scoring from our wings and we need to get a complete game effort from everyone."
The Chargers are led by seniors Robyn Staudenmaier, Kathleen Collingbourne and Kate Pilson.